‘I love an excuse to get DRESSED UP!'

Michelle Collins reveals how lipstick helps her through lockdown

- ROZ LEWIS

She rose to fame as Cindy Beale in EastEnders in 1988 and later had a stint on Coronation Street, playing landlady Stella Price from 2011. But Michelle Collins has now admitted she could return to either one.

‘I’d never say never about going into a soap. I’m a jobbing actor and I want to be versatile and to be challenged,’ she says. ‘I know that sounds crazy at 59, but I still want to play so many different roles in the theatre and on the TV.’

Sadly for Michelle, this year’s Covid-19 crisis has seen the end of two projects she had lined up.

She says, ‘I only did just over a week of rehearsals for The Birthday Party, which was due to tour the UK, before that was cancelled, and I was going to take a one-woman show, Motorhome Marilyn, to the Edinburgh Fringe.’

So, with all her work on hold, Michelle turned to Instagram to keep herself busy, dressing up to cook a few times a week.

‘Any excuse to get dressed up and put some lippy on and do my hair,’ she laughs. ‘Let’s face it, there is nowhere else to go at the moment!’